Sandown & Shanklin were comfortable 38-8 winners of the Hampshire Caffrey's Bowl Final against Fordingbridge at Sandown yesterday.

A try in the fourth minute, gifted to them when the Fordingbridge fly-half, Angus Reid, froze after knocking-on behind his own posts, set the tone for a first-half dominated by Sandown.

Reid made amends when he slotted a penalty four minutes later, but the Sandown scrum-half, Nigel Smith, crossed for his second try shortly afterwards.

The Fordingbridge pack were more than a match for their opponents and created positions for possible score, but the backs lacked the penetration of their Sandown counterparts.

This was perfectly illustrated when Adam Brown rounded-off a good move for the next try and also when he scored again five minutes after the interval.

Between these scores, Reid had gifted Sandown a fourth try when Dean Gasper, whose powerful surge from around the 22 took him over the line, caught his woeful clearance.

When Brown's second try made the score 31-3, a trouncing appeared on the cards, but Fordingbridge showed great character in seizing the initiative. Unfortunately, the visitors made errors in their anxiety to score and Sandown defended superbly throughout.

The hosts broke out to score again through Danny Monks and his conversion made it four in total.

Fordingbridge gained reward for their efforts when Dave Gogin crossed in the corner with the last action of the match.

Afterwards, an elated Sandown captain, Micky Jones said: "We expected a hard battle upfront and we got it, but our backs were too strong for them. It's a great day for us because it's the first time the club has ever won a trophy."

A bitterly disappointed Fordingbridge skipper, Chris Langford, said: "I think our second-half performance was testimony to how the team's played all year. We didn't gel in the first-half but all credit to our supporters who kept us going."